3º British: Natural Environment (relief)

Here you have the link of the Unit 2 Natural Environment (Part 1): Relief and landscape processes (15 pages...)

There is also an optional part: the Glossary. You can print it or not, but remember that in the exam it will be a question of vocabulary...

As you can see, the first point of the theoretical unit is about tectonic plates and the continental drift. Continental drift is the theory that 200 million years ago there was a single continent called Pangea on the Earth. You can watch a video from National Geographic. As if you want more information about tectonic plates, there is another video, from BBC.

Another topic that frightens yet excites every geography student (go on, admit it), natural hazards and disasters have been very much in the news over the past 12 months. As an example, using Google Technologies, you can see a map of earthquakes happened during the last week…

NEW! Here you have the link to the "How to solve Case Studies" presentation. You can print it or not, as you prefer; it is just a guide for helping you in the activities of the following weeks.

1º British Debate: 2012 The end of the World or the beginnig of a new Era?

2012 is believed to be the year to witness the end of the world… Before the debate in class, watch this video on Youtube (8 minutes).

The Mayan’s comprehension of time, seasons, and cycles has proven itself to be vast and sophisticated.  The Maya developed 17 different calendars.  The particular Mayan Calendar that has steadily drawn global attention since 1987 is called the Tzolk’in or Cholq’ij.  

The Mayan Dooms Day (Dec. 21, 2012) based on that calendar is in fact a rebirth, the start of the World of the Fifth Sun, a new era when peace begins, and people live in harmony with Mother Earth.

Why? Because at sunrise on December 21, 2012 for the first time in 26,000 years the Sun rises to conjunct the intersection of the Milky Way and the plane of the ecliptic.  This cosmic cross is considered to be an embodiment of the Sacred Tree of Life and that, according to Mayan’s culture, will open a channel for cosmic energy to flow through the earth, cleansing it. The key is notfocusing on death, but on the rebirth, the new chance of doing things well!  

Questions for the debate:

1. Where are the Mayans from?
2. Do they still exist? What happened to them?
3. How do we know about them?
4. What is the date that has been predicted?
5. What special day is this every year on the normal calendar?
6. Is there consensus about the significance of this date?
7. At which special Mayan archaeological site can you watch the sun rise?
8. How many tourists are expected to come to Mexico because of the prophecy?
9. What other predicted apocalypse dates have passed recently without event?
10. We usually use base 10 for counting, but what base counting system did the Mayans use for their calendar?

3º British: Changing the maps

We have learnt in class that exist several ways to represent the Earth in a flat format. They are known as planimetric maps.

The most common one is the cylindrical model, and all of us in the Western world are used to see the Earth in this way:

However, have you ever thought how the world map is for a Japanese person? Well, the map changes a little bit because Japan is in the middle:

And what would happen if we change the map proportions? In this brief extract from the "The West Wing TV serie" (3:49 minutes, from season 2 – episode 16), it is explained in a high-level way the differences between the Gall-Peters projection and the Mercator projection. These differences were the reason of important disputes in the past…

Have a look to the video and after that please answer the following questions (When you finish them, you have to send it by email to: blogeducativo08@gmail.com):

-         In what century did Mercator create his first map?

-         What problems or defects does Mercator’s map have?

-         In what century did Peters create his projection?

-         What was Peters expecialized in?

-         What arguments are used in the video to defend the Peters projection?

-         What problems or defects does Peters’ map have?

-         What projection is used by Google Maps? Why?

-         Opinion: what do you think about this maps manipualtion? Why?

If you need more help, you can also watch this video about Map projection and GIS (only 1 minute)

4º British: Black America

Here you have the presentation of "Political evolution of Black America". There is not exam of this unit, but it will be a good idea read the famous speech "I have a dream" of Martin Luther King (1963). 

You can also watch the speech on youtube if you prefer (about 15 minutes).